Mysore/Mysuru: No Muslim graveyard in Karnataka can deny the burial of any person who follows Islam and has succumbed to COVID-19, said Karnataka Wakf Board after some incidents of such refusal were reported in the State. 

“Muslim khabarastans (graveyards) in Karnataka irrespective of registered or unregistered with the Wakf Board shall not refuse the burial of Muslims who died due to COVID pandemic,” said the State Board, addressing all the graveyard management committees and administrators. 

The Board has directed the graveyard management committees to cooperate with all the Nodal Officers, District Wakf Officers, for a decent burial. “Non-cooperation or refusal on the part of the management will be construed as an insult committed to the deceased and will attract the punitive provision of the Indian Penal Code and removal from the management as per the provisions of the Wakf Act 1995,” the Board said. 

All registered as well as unregistered graveyard management committees must comply with this directive. “A decent burial is the right of a dead person as per the law of the land and the Islamic jurisprudence,” the Board said in its order. 

No further deliberation in this regard is solicited except compliance of the order in letter and spirit. Any dereliction in this regard will be viewed seriously,” the Board order said. 

The State Government’s move directing the management committees comes after cases of some graveyards not cooperating to bury the dead who succumbed to COVID came to light. The District Magistrates and the Superintendent of Police in the districts have been requested to prosecute the erring management committees who are responsible for non co-operation in this regard, the order said.